Cool and blustery conditions once again was a fact of life for Oregon runners, who also had to put up with near constant rain & an intermittent breeze, yet there were some very noteworthy results. Matt Melancon of Sheldon, who narrowly missed a berth at Foot Locker Nationals with his 11th place finish, scored in the 3K with a time of 9:06.91. For most of the race he battled Mark Medgin of Tigard & Aaron Kirch of Westview who placed second & third. Parkes Kendrich of Grant led the way in the girls’ 3K with 11:00.79 defeating Rebecca Lupescu of Westview, who clocked 11:11.
Grant’s Ragen Allen led most of the way in the 1500M only to be out-kicked by Kelsi Schaer of Tigard, who won by three seconds with a time of 4:44. The boys’ version of the distance went to Aaron Clark of Sunset after being timed in 4:04.15. He was followed in the event by Nich Roche of Tigard (4:11) and Dan Orth of Beaverton (4:16).
Piper Donaghu of Grant claimed the 800 Meters with a fine 2:17, as she edged Sheldon’s Louise Mulvey by a second. Will Watkins led the guys’ 800M with 1:58 to top his Grant team mate Tyler Riggs, who ran 2:00.42. Nathan Brown of Sunset followed in third with 2:00.70. Piper also anchored Grant’s victory in the 4 by 400 relay & Regan Allen ran it as well, although Regan was not credited in the final results.
The conditions were hardly decent for sprinters yet Jordan Bergstrom of Clackamas led the way in an impressive 48.48. Tre Vonn Robinson of Sheldon followed with a solid 49.91. Kate Humprhey went 59.94 to annex the girls’ 400 and then added a victory in the 300 Hurdles with 46.25. Ashante Horsley took both the 100 & 200 Meter dashes with times of 12.49 & 25.30, while Maliea Luqin of Westview garnered the 100 hurdles (14.92) and placed 2nd in the 300H with 47.08. Sunset’s Eric Zechenelly won the 300 Hurdles with 39.71.
Beaverton claimed both the boys’ and the girls four by 800 Meter relay races. Kevin Kavanaugh, Dan Ockerman, Hussein Moahmed & Paul Kirse teamed for the guys, while Ally Aschbacher, Connie Murray & Maddie Crouse took care of the first three legs and then gave way to distance ace Hayley Gregoire, who anchored the victory. Hayley confirmed that she will run for Boise State next year.
Conditions were even more problematic for the field events athletes but Hannah Leatham of Sheldon won the high jump with 5-02 and was close at 5-05. Joseph Hart of Tigard won the long jump with 22-05. Rocky Tufty of Sunset won the high jump with 6-00 and Joseph Hart won the Triple for Tigard with 43-10.
Sadly between the meet ending late & an early four hour trip to Pasco tomorrow morning, time does not permit much more. Hopefully we can add a bit more on Sunday.